Ericsson Says It's Still Talking With Qualcomm Over Patent Suit
Stockholm, Feb. 22 (Bloomberg) -- Ericsson AB, the world's No. 3 mobile phone maker, played down a newspaper report it's ''close'' to an accord with U.S. rival Qualcomm Inc. that would end a three-year lawsuit over cellular phone-technology patents.
The Wall Street Journal, citing unidentified people familiar with the matter, said the companies are about to sign an accord allowing each to use the other's technology. The case is slated to come to trial in April in federal court in Marshall, Texas.
''We hope we'll be able to solve this issue in a more civilized way than going to court,'' said Eric Oesterberg, an Ericsson spokesman. However, ''we're still discussing.''
Under the proposed settlement being reported by the Journal, Stockholm-based Ericsson could sell phones using Code-Division Multiple Access, or CDMA, technology that's been championed by Qualcomm, and Qualcomm would get access to Ericsson's patents to a rival digital technology called Global System for Mobile communication, or GSM.
While Europe is currently unified by one standard for mobile communications based on GSM, the U.S. has three -- GSM, Digital Advanced Mobile Phone Service, or D-AMPS, and CDMA. That's made it harder for the U.S. to back one single standard for the third generation of mobile technology, which will allows users to send postcards, get real-time news and even hold video conferences on the run.
The European Union and Japan have already chosen wideband CDMA, a technology backed by Ericsson and Finland's Nokia Oyj, the world's top mobile phone maker.
Trade Conflict
An agreement between Ericsson and Qualcomm could help resolve a looming trade conflict over the future of wireless standards, the paper said.
''We think there'll be a family of standards,'' said Ericsson's Oesterberg.
The proposed settlement would also allow Qualcomm, which gets much of its revenue from making wireless communications chips, to make semiconductors for ''global'' phones using both technologies and might also make such telephones itself, the Wall Street Journal said.
In October, Qualcomm said Ericsson dropped claims against it for three patents in the lawsuit filed in Texas, and surrendered its rights to two separate disputed patents.
08:59:28 02/22/1999
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